Here's a few things I found interesting. All points are based on a 1-10 scale.
I lost 3 points because my t-top tie down straps were not in place. I have my straps in the car still, I just keep it under the carpet as I don't take my t-tops out really and it looks cleaner that way. Ok my thinking is, I'm in the ultra modified class. I should be able to do what ever I want with my stuff. It's "ultra-modified"! If something is not there that doesn't effect car, it shouldn't be judged or have points taken away for it.Having 3 points taken off for that is just simply idiotic. What if you had a custom sub enclosure in the trunk that where you couldn't even see the straps????? Isn't that the whole point of Ultra-Mod ???? Minus 2 points for the rear panels having some scratches. I specifically changed out my panels before zcon with some that had no scratches in them. I got one scratch from the track day because I ended up having to take my floor jack back in the Z instead of my buddies car. One scratch! Same thing happened to me at Zcon 03. I lost point for 2 minor scratches on my panels. I can see one but two is stupid. Lost a point for having my garage door opener in the glove box. I can go either way with this one. I had it double sided taped on the inside of the glove box, this is where I keep it. If I tore it off, the tape would have stayed. So either way I was screwed. But hey, it was clean. Consider it a mod and leave it alone. If a radar det. is considered a mod, what's the difference? I see your point on this one lolol. Technically you are not supposed to have anything in your glove box, center console, etc. My feeling is what if you removed the open and velcroed a Techcom to it (not hooked up). Would they still deduct the points? What if you had a boost controller in there instead of a GD opener..... Lost 2 points for a sill being cracked and some dust on my seats between the center console. Ok, I have yet to find this crack. I had my door jams painted 2 weeks before zcon so there shouldn't have been any cracks. And dust on my seat? My interior was brand new, and I conditioned the seats the night before. Dont feel bad. I lost points for "lint" on my brand new OEM visors that I literally took out of the plastic bag and installed the day before the show. Sometimes I swear they don't want to have a page with no point deductions Then I lost 2 to 1 point on every other interior part for dust or lint. I think this guys was on crack because he judged all of the above and had a problem with everything. Said there was lint on my radio, guages, seats, door panels, armrests, etc. Ok, if A car sits outside all day with the hatch open and windows down, lint/dust is going to form. Specially in a parking lot with trees around. And since we couldn't touch it up after 10:00, wtf were we supposed to do? Exactly. This is my argument with dust on your car after all detailing stops. What are you supposed to do enclose your car in a bubble or wrap it in Saran Wrap before the judges get there???? The judges should let minor dust like that slide by especially if you have to have your door open etc until they arrive for judging Ok, so thats just the interior. 13 points lost total. Outside of the car was judged the total opposite (different judge of course). I got 1 deduction total in the paint/fuel tank/holddowns section. I imagine it was for the overall paint, which I agree. I have never been totally happy with the way my paint job turned out. Being a white car saves it a ton. Ok, now onto my engine bay. Now I'm sorry, but I have to say this and don't mean to sound like a dick. But I had one of the cleanest engine bays at zcon. Yeah I felt that way also until I got judged lol. At a show I did this year I lost 10 points..thats right 10 points on my engine bay. I haven't lost that many points since I started showing the car 5 years ago. Hell at Zcon 03 my final score was 292 points...280 something for GC...Again this adds to the point of judging inconsistancies and judges that don't know what they are doing I have seen tons of people post about seeing my Z at zcon and they say the exact same thing. The damn thing is spotless. Onto the judging. The biggest thing was a 2 point deduction for my radiator fan blade had stress cracks in it. Mother f-er! 99% of the Z's out there have this. If your fan blade is not brand new, then it's a little yellowish from age and it has the white stress cracks in it. You can't see my fan unless you are really trying to look. I have an upgraded radiator which makes the gap between the shroud and the engine even less. Then the guy proceeeded to take of 1 point for the other 9 catagories for a total of 11 points. No explanation. I would really like to know why. If there's not a problem, you can't just take off points. Paint was new and was clean. All wires were new and clean. All hoses were new and clean. Fuel lines were braded line and clean with nice connectors at the end to hide the end of the hose. Battery tray and cables were all new and clean. AHHHHHHHHHHH. Dont feel bad. I saw a guy at Zcon loose points cause he didn't have the original overflow res. The part was Nissan OEM but wasn't the one that came with the car. His old one was yellow. He loses either way !!!!!! I think these 2 judges went too far. I wasn't being judged for a Gold Cup award, I was being judged in the car show. Gold cup was seperate and I can see getting that picky with shit when comes down to that award. It's frustrating when your competition shows up late, doesn't have time to clean his car, looks my car over and say he doesn't have a chance. And then proceeds to win over all, and get a Gold Cup!!! I seriously have nothing against Mike, he didn't do the judging. But my main reason for going to Zcon was to show my car and see if all my work would pay off. I took 3rd, which still is very good. And I also took Mr K's choice award. But I just feel screwed after seeing some of the judging comments and point deductions. Welcome to the world of ZCCA judging. I watched a Gold Glass judge leaning over my engine bay judging it with ashes from his cigar falling all over mine. I watched a second crawl under my car (I was under the impression that suspension pieces were not to be judged???? Oh well...like I posted earlier this weekend. I have been having so much more fun at the non-Z shows. The atmosphere is so more relaxed, nobody counts your mods for classes, its all about seeing nice cars and having fun. Until major revisions to the ZCCA judging system are done the problems will continue to persist.
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